Ovi Magazine : Hindus hopeful of the success of 'The Love Guru' boycott in Finland by Rajan Zed

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Hindus hopeful of the success of 'The Love Guru' boycott in Finland
by Rajan Zed
2008-08-17 10:44:38

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Hindus are hopeful that boycott call given against Hollywood movie The Love Guru in Finland will be successful.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu leader, seems confident that many Hindus and others who feel their pain will refrain from going to this movie in Finland. Box office receipts will prove it, he adds. It is reportedly being released in Finland on Friday, August 15.

Zed, supported by some other organizations/leaders, has given this Finland-wide boycott call by Hindus and other religious Finns because The Love Guru lampoons Hinduism and Hindu concepts and uses Hindu terms frivolously.

Zed, who is president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, and who launched campaign against this movie starting in March, urging other people of faith (besides Hindus) also to boycott the movie, says, “Today it is Hinduism, tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to denigrate another religion/denomination.”

Denouncing Finnish Board of Film Classification for giving it “K11” rating when it deserved the highest “K18” rating, Rajan Zed stresses that while Board says “The primary purpose of the classification of audiovisual programs is to protect children”, but by giving The Love Guru a “K11” rating, it is leading the highly impressionable Finnish children between 11 to 18 years to grow with a distorted view of Hinduism.

Criticizing the existing Board rule that only the distributor can appeal against the decision of the Board, Zed says that other affected parties by the movie, in this case Hindus, should also have same rights of appeal against rating decisions.

In this fast changing world, Board’s classification criteria seems to be outdated and it needs immediate revision, Zed argues.

A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada (USA), has also called for boycott of The Love Guru because it “…lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy…”

The antics of Guru Pitka of The Love Guru are a mockery of the esteemed institution of guru, who is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master/preceptor in Hinduism, Zed stresses.

Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion followers and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. No faith, larger or smaller, should be ridiculed at, Rajan Zed says.

Meanwhile, signature campaign launched by Hindu groups against “The Love Guru” has crossed the 7,000 mark.

The Love Guru (88 minutes), a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame), opened June 20 in USA and Canada.

Balkans Hinduism Film

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Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-17 14:52:57
http://www.venganza.org/2007/12/18/tired-of-having-your-religion-bashed.htm Anyone who takes a close look at the practice of religion bashing and smearing, which seems to be the “politically correct” attitude nowadays in self-proclaimed “enlightened” circles, will soon enough become aware that it is more often than not a mere denigrating of religious symbols (i.e., sheer propaganda for what is falsely assumed to be a superior intellectual stand) based on profound and invincible ignorance, cultural philistinism, and a superficial view of a social phenomenon which has accompanied civilized life from the beginning. As an example the reader may open the above link to the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster” as enthusiastically proposed by one such basher in this very forum. The site needs no comments; as with most mindless bashers, it speaks for itself.


Asa	2008-08-17 20:34:14
From what I have heard, most people will stay away simply because it is a terrible film.


Sand	2008-08-18 07:27:00
Obviously the many idiocies of most religions are extremely sensitive to critical examination since event the slightest intelligent perusal of much of religious content reveals that it cannot withstand sincere criticism. Therefore the common weapon is censorship and unfortunate emotional and physical violence and that in itself reveals the nature of religion in general.


Sand	2008-08-18 07:30:58
Whoops, here we go again. Not "event" but "even". One of the outstanding lacks in this site (which has been remedied in others) is the inability to edit one's comments. Old farts such as myself frequently discover errors that should be editable.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-18 08:04:26
Here we go again with the "poetics of defecation" applied to oneself and spewing forth pearls of wisdom about religion...; as if we needed confirmation of what has been amply demonstrated. As mentioned above, see the revealing example of the Church of the FSM.